Title: Yakitate!! Japan
Studio: Sunrise
Genre: Comedy & Baking/Cooking
Type: Television Show

Brief Plot Synopsis:
Azuma Kazuma is a young boy with the dream of creating a bread distinct in it of itself. A bread that will be recognized as the bread of Japan. Azuma becomes a baker for Pantasia, one of Japan's most successful bakery franchises, and with the aid of Manager, Kawachi Kyosuke, and Azusagawa Tsukino he pursues his dream of creating Ja-Pan.

Animation: 8.5/10 & 9.5/10
There are two important things to take into consideration when rating Yakitate!! Japan's animation, the artistic quality, and the humorous effect it has on its viewing audience. The artistic quality is at the common high standard we find and appreciate amongst some of the better Japanese Animations. I would put it within the same group as anime's like Love Hina, and Chobits. However, the comedic quality of this animation is way above average. I personally find Yakitate!! Japan one of the funniest animations I have ever watched. During the bread tasting scenes, one will find them self laughing out loud at the randomness and intuitiveness of the tasters responses to the fantastic bread they are tasting. At times the tasters body will form into a melon after tasting melon bread, or die and go to heaven, meet beautiful women at a brothel, and come back to life in tears after eating Japan #44.

Audio: 6.5/10
The music is made to fit the plot, and is done quite well. Although, there aren't any noteworthy pieces that people will be talking about after the show. As a standard of comparison, I would rate Yoko Kanno's: Cowboy Bebop Soundtrack at a 10/10, or Kenji Kawai's: Ghost in the Shell Soundtrack at a 9/10.

Characters: 8/10
The characters in Yakitate!! Japan are absolutely hilarious. Azuma Kazuma is the sort of epitome of a lead character in an Anime; a young boy who leaves his family to pursue a goal of mammoth proportions. The interesting thing is that the producers of Yakitate!! Japan have integrated the secondary characters to take on lead roles at time, this only adds to the fantastic humor that is Yakitate!! Japan. The stories about how Manager got his Afro, or the INSANE reactions of Kuroyanagi Ryo are a laugh riot. I watch the show primarily because of Kawachi. If you watch the show you probably understand what I am talking about, "What was that!". Don't expect a high level of depth within these characters, as it is a comedy anime, but don’t assume that they are one-dimensional. Along with each character is a funny intricate plot that brings them all together.

Overall: 8/10
I would defiantly recommend Yakitate!! Japan to any one, anime fan or not. In some ways I find it has a humor that would equal the American Family Guy, but pulling it away from that is a continual plot, and an interesting one at that. The producers of Yakitate!! Japan have put forth what appears to be the most successful means to structuring an anime, that being one filled with training and tournament battles. As a comedy I would rate this among the highest, if not the highest. As an anime, I believe an 8/10 is a fair rating. For those who have spend the last few weeks watching deep and dark Anime's, it's a great change of pace. Enjoy Fans!

Reviewed by: Vantage